Thai Central Bank Required Banks To Stay Away From Cryptos

Asian crypto market might not be having the best time of its existence in view of regional governments curbing on the use of bitcoin and its brethren.

Among the recent troubling news is that, according to media reports,
Chinese authorities
have an intention to block access of the country’s citizens to foreign virtual money trading venues. And this came after the state banned ICOs and bitcoin trading last year September.

This time, the Thai government steps in the tacking-on-cryptos-game. On Monday, February 12, the central bank of Thailand announced it had turned to banks based in the country to get barred from any operations connected with cyber coins.

Thailand to Ramp Up Scrutiny Over Bitcoin?

According to the central bank’s notification, it asked financial bodies to be careful with digital money transactions because they might lead to illegal trading issues,
Reuters
reported.

In a special circular, Thai main bank’s ruler Veerathai Santiprabhob said that currently in nation’s financial institutions, banks specifically, are forbidden to pile into or trade cyber assets. They are also not permitted to offer crypto trading burses and establishing other platforms for virtual money trading.

Furthermore, Thai banks cannot allow their customers utilize credit cards for purchasing bitcoin or altcoins. Neither are they permitted to recommend their clients to pile into cryptos nor to trade them.

Also, the central bank of Thailand stressed that crypto-coins were not considered as a legal payment method in the country. And as the majority of centralized bodies, top Thai bank expressed its concern over the possible use of cyber assets in illicit activities, including financing terrorism, purchasing tabooed products and services like drugs and weapons, as well as money laundering.

It is not new when governments or authorities in Asian countries try to tie up the crypto market. Apart from China and Thailand, among the other crypto-cautious Asian states there are
the Philippines
and
South Korea.